From the NY Post:Forest City Enterprises, the real-estate behemoth whose subsidiary built the Barclays Center, has taken pay-to-play to new levels, an explosive new report charges.
The company has gotten indirect government subsidies totaling $2.6 billion over the last decade — or 23 percent of its $11.4 billion in revenues over the period, according to the report.
At the same time, the company and its subsidiaries, Forest City Ratner — which developed the Atlantic Yards, site of the Brooklyn arena — spent $23 million on political campaigns, according to Cause of Action, a nonprofit that conducted a detailed investigation of Forest City.
The oversight group accuses the company of a “decade of kickbacks” and coordinating its campaign contributions, and says it is investigating multiple companies that use “political connections for profit.”
In key election years, 85 percent of the company’s political contributions went to candidates where the company had real-estate projects, the group found.
Looking just at New York City, Forest City has spent $5 million on lobbying between 2002 and 2012.
Tell us something we don't know.
4 comments:
Pretty much the years of "Mayor Mike,the $1 a year everyman " ,who "can't be bought"..Looks like some other folks were practicing similar largesse,and given the,business acumen,savvy and access to infoand experts he has,as well as a demonstrated propensity for offshoring assets and using shell corporations (witness the "philanthropic"arm,well,say no more....A whole lot of people,not includi.ng us, have benefitted from this shadowy world of creative accounting,furtive transactions,and manipulatio. Of both data and our sources of information.How long i.to the future will we be paying for our adherence to base tribal instinct?The damage,for the most part ,is done.Let us now begin to endeavor to investigate,assign culpability judiciously,cfaw back as much of our losses as possible, and institute safeguards so that it never happens again.First Mike,then Rupert
, then Preet!
The best local government money can buy. Politicians in Detroit envy us for that.
At least Atlantic Yards was finished. The Second Ave Subway, the Fulton Hub, and the replacement PATH WTC station are still unfinished.
Don't forget Metro-Tech...
But really, the Real Estate Industry is responsible for a huge chuck of political funding... change is needed.
Someone should get after Vallone AND Katz on these issues during public debates....and send their reaction to being publicly called to the carpet to crappy.
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